Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Joe Gruters | RNC Chairman Previews Biggest Midterm Races Across the Country

Transcript

Joe Gruters | RNC Chairman Previews Biggest Midterm Races Across the Country · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This guy right here is a big deal guy. Big
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: deal guy. Runs the RNC. I'm going to like this
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: guy very, very much. Was in Las Vegas with this
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: guy not that long ago in Dallas, although he shined
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: me in Dallas. And he is the head of the RNC,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the great Joe Gruters. Joseph, good morning, buddy. How are you?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Hey, Sid.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Great to be back on. And yes, man, we had
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: a great time in Dallas. And yeah, you should be
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: front and center. I was telling our team, I said,
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: if we want somebody to fire up the crowd, Sid
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: is our guy. And so next time, next time, two
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: years from now, we're going to have a big convention.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: I'm going to put you in front.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Two years from now, I'll be doing sports. I can't
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: do this anymore, Joe. I can't. I mean, every day
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: it's like I don't know which direction everybody's heading. The inconsistencies,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the I just don't get it. I'm a pretty smart guy,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: not as smart as you.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: But look at the lineup that you have even today.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: Marco Rubio, Mark Wayne Mullins. I mean, that's as good
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: as it gets. I mean, you have some of the
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: smartest guys in the country that are helping run this country,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: and you have them on your show. Shows you how
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: important you are, not only to New York, but the
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: whole country.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, thank you. And Laura Trumbull will be on this
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: program tomorrow, and she loves you. She loves you.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: She's a superstar.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: She's great. And Watley is in that heavily contested race
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: in North Carolina. They were there before you, Watley and Laura.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I know that a bunch of folks, including J.D. Vance,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I think. when North Carolina, just a couple of days ago,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: trying to help out Watley. Last I saw, he was
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: trailing that scumbag, sorry, Roy Cooper, by about 10 points.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Where are we now in that race?
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Well, I think it's single digits, and what's happening now
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: is MAGA came in with some of their ads over
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: the last week, and I talked to Watley, and I said, listen,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: you've got to spend the resources, make yourself viable, and
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: as people get to know Watley, his numbers are going
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: to improve, and so He's a machine. He has the resources.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: We want to be there to help him, but it's
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: these last 43 days. You know, that's what happens when
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: you're the party chairman. You have to sometimes make decisions.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Where do you allocate resources? I told Watley I want
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: to go spend money in his race. I think he
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: could win, but he has to show some signs of
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: life here.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: 43 more days, and we have a couple of huge, Joe,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: congressional races right here on Long Island that can really
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: help you guys out. You've got Mike Lepetri running against
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Tom Swasey. Swazi is spending a lot of money. I
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: see his commercials. Apetri doing a good job as well.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: And then you've got Janine Driscoll. Man, I like her.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: She's running against Laura Gillen, who beat Anthony D'Esposito. Those
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: are two big races on Long Island. There are others
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: we'll get to, too, but those two on Long Island
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: can really shift everything for the Republicans. If we can
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: grab those, your thoughts.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Well, listen, I go to the county chairman there, Joe Cairo,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: absolute superstar. I say he's one of the best chairmen
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: in the entire country.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Agreed.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: We're so lucky to have him in that position. because
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: those two congressional seats could tilt the balance of power
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: to the Republican side. I was out there visiting with
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Joe and the team and LaPetrie, and basically I said
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: the road to the majority starts right here in Long Island.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: If we can win these two seats, we win. So
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: we are investing heavily. We think we could win. We
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: think the fact that Blakeman's on the ballot, the fact
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: that we have a guy like Cairo helping run the shop,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: the fact we have two Driscoll and LaPetrie are such
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: great candidates.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: We think we're going to win both those seats.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I'll stay out of this, but President Trump with Mamdani yesterday,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: that hurts Blakeman. That hurts every Republican. in these midterms.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So that's why I'm confused. I can't figure it out.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is a guy, Mamdani, who's in line
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: with El-Said. He's in line with Hassan Piker. Why the
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: president would show this creep any respect doesn't make sense
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: with the midterms 43 days away and his really good
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: friend Bruce Blakeman trying to beat Kathy Hochul, who also
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: buddies up to Mamdani in that gubernatorial race. Stay out
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: of it, Joe. Let me do all the talking. Didn't
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: make any sense to me, and we are in the
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: fight for our lives coming up in 43 days. I
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: still have to figure out what the hell President Trump
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: is thinking. Anyway, let's get back to these races. Mike Lawler,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Rockland County, up against, is it Kate Conley? This is
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: a woman, I guess, who served in the service at
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: some point, and she's gotten kind of nasty with Mike,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: and Mike is telling everybody, look at this lady. She's
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: against data centers. She's against AI, yet she has cashed
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: in on the AI proposal years and years ago. What
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts on that Rockland County race?
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Listen, people hate hypocrisy, and that is a perfect example,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: but Mike Lawler is like a unicorn.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: It's the most amazing thing. He's in a minus-seven district.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: And if the Republicans are going to do a little
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: bit worse than we normally do, let's say he should
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: be at minus seven. I mean, he should not only
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: be not, I mean, maybe minus 10, minus 15. Mike
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: Lawler somehow figures out a way. It's because the guy's
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: a machine. And he started, you know, the guy is
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: a workhorse. He goes out, he represents his constituents. And
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: I think that they appreciate everything that he does. I'm
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: going out to his district today to do an event,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: a walk event. And listen, it's all about turnout. Right now,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: the most important thing, we need people to turn out.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: We need people to go to GOP.com, join our efforts,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: make sure everybody is laser-focused at voting. And listen, like Lawler's,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: the fact that he's still in this race... We're with
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: what that district makeup is. I mean, the guy is amazing.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: But listen, he's responsible for salt. We would not have
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: that deduction.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: New Yorkers would not have the deduction if it wasn't
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: for Michael Lawler being in the White House, jumping up
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: and down. I tell people that he he is not
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: he's not the only reason why it happened. But he's
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: a large reason why it happened.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: No, he is. Long Island did a good job with that, too.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Anthony D'Esposito and those guys. But there's a reason why
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: President Trump refers to Lawler as Mr. Salt. Because he
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: would say, he's such a pain in the ass. Oh,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: my God. But he got it done. He got it done.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: That was huge. And you're right. His district is blue.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Just like Bruce Blakeman. You know, Nassau County, Joe, you
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: know this. Many more Democrats than Republicans... But Blakeman has
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: found a way over the years in his Nassau County
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: executive races to get the independents and get the disgruntled Democrats.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: That's how people like him and Lawler win. And that
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: can still be the case in their Congress and gubernatorial
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: races coming up this year.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Common sense. People want common sense. People want action. And
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: both Blakeman and Lawler deliver that, not only for them.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: for their districts, but for New York and the country.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Tell me about my friend. I watched my Giants lose
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: last night. We lost Jackson-Darden. We went from a really
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: good team to a terrible team. Jameis Winston, who was
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: pretty good in the past, looked awful last night. I
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: watched a lot of those games over the years, Joe Gruders,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: with my friend Michelle Tafoya, interviewing coaches as they ran
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: to the locker room at halftime. Now she's got a
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: real legitimate shot to win her race in the state
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: of Minnesota. How does the foil look?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Well, listen, I think she looks great.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: I think that's a state where we're going to have
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: some massive pickups, not only in that race, but down
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: ballot races. I watched that game last night. I would
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: say you can't blame James Winston because the line was porous.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: They had zero time to react. That's why Dart was injured.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: That's why Winston, he had two seconds every single play.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: He was running around. But listen, Tafoya is in a
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: great position. I mean, here's a state that people ignored.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: We have favorable matchups we want. We are investing heavily
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: in Minnesota because we actually think we could win some
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: of these seats.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: We do. Well, give me some of the races, Joe,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: that people aren't following that closely because they're here in
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: New York that you think can bode well for us.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: Well, if you look at races across the country, I
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: always go back to like a Colorado race. Gabe Evans,
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: he won his race by 300 votes. You would think
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: in an off cycle that he would lose that seat,
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: but he's going against guy. This is what's happening all
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: across the country. The matchups we needed to get, we have.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: And so you have common sense, mainstream candidates versus crazy.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: And in Gabe Evans case, you have a guy that
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: he's going against a guy, meatless Manny. He wants to
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: get rid of, he believes he's a member of the
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: animal liberation front, which means he wants to give cows
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: the same rights as human beings. He wants to have
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: everybody go forge for berries. He wants to eliminate all
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: oil and gas production in Colorado. And so these are
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: the type of matches, but this is everywhere. But if
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: you go look at Michigan, we have normal versus crazy,
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: you know, Rogers versus El Said. So new, new New
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Hampshire is a great pickup opportunity against Chris Pappas. I
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: think we win New Hampshire. And then listen, I think
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: we run the table. I think you're going to see
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: a win in Maine. I think Susan Collins, even though
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: she's doesn't agree with us a hundred percent of the time,
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: she's a vote for the leader. And I was talking
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: to the president last night about some of these races.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: And then if you look at the congressional races, I
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: actually think we're in better shape in the House than
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: we are in the Senate. And the reason why is
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: because we're down to 21 super toss-up races across the country.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: And then the president went and recruited in early on.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Late endorsement doesn't matter as much. But if you endorse
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: early on, if we find a candidate that could win,
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: They get the endorsement. They get the golden ticket. Now
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: we have the resources. We have more money, better candidates,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: and President Trump is our secret weapon. We're going to
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: do 35 rallies, 100 teletown halls. over the next 42 days,
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: and we're going to absolutely crush these guys.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he told me that on this show from Dallas.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: He was on the Friday show, and I was in Dallas.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: He was going to do 35 states. He said, you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: you have so much energy, Sid. Here's what we'll do.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Maybe I'll do 30, and you'll do five. I said, great.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Just tell me the five states. I'd be happy to
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: help you, Mr. President and Joe Gruters and the RNC.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: That's a serious offer, by the way, if you ever
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: want me to go out to one of these rallies
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: and get these people all fired up like Nigel Farage does.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: I'd be more than happy to do it. But it
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: looks like about 35 different races, right?
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 35 races. Those are the super targeted races. And listen,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: he's proven that he could deliver these low propensity voters.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: He's done it three times. We just need to, because
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: what this whole race is, it's a turnout race. The
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Democrats have consolidated support on their side. We have some
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: room to where we need to get our team not
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: only committed to voting for the team, but then we
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: need to get them to show up. And that's what
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: Our job as the party is, that's what we need
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: everybody out there. Like I said, give us your time
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: and treasure. Go to the local, go join a local campaign.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: You know what the, after Butler, Pennsylvania, I tell everybody
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: the president was saved that day. So we could save
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: not only the country, but save the world. Everybody could
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: play their role. If they go join a local campaign,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: go to gop.com, get involved with protect the vote. You
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: can go to protect the vote.com, become a poll watcher,
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: poll worker. You know, it, it, Listen, we're facing the
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: other side who wants to fundamentally change the way we live.
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: There's no going back. We have to win. We need
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: everybody to come together. We need everybody focused on making
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: sure that we deliver these majorities for the president.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Final 60 seconds. One of the things that Laura Trump
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: and Michael Watley did was Fix what was a broken system.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Every Republican would say the last couple of years, why
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: should I vote? You talk about voter turnout. It's not
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: going to count anyway. They're going to cheat. But they
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: did help a long way, voter integrity and fixing all that.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: We still feel pretty good about fairness in these races.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: We have staffers in about 30 states. We have 180 lawsuits.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: We're bringing the hammer from coast to coast. 36 states
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: we have lawsuits in. And listen, everywhere we can, we're
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: being proactive to try to make sure we stop the
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: Democrats who are trying to lie, cheat, and steal their
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: way to victory. There's no doubt about it. They're trying
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: to cheat. We have to stop them. Yes, Lord Trump,
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Michael Wiley did a great job. We're coming in behind him.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: We actually have more poll watchers today and more volunteer
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: attorneys today ready for this election cycle than we did
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: in 2024.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: We're ready. Go to protectthevote.com. Join our efforts. Let's go.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: And GOP.com, right?
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: And GOP.com.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Joe Gruters, I love you. You are a great, great choice.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: You're doing a great job for the RNC. And we're
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: going to win with you in charge. So thank you
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: for stopping by this morning. Good luck with Mike Lawler
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: this afternoon. And keep up the great work. Thanks, Ed.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Great to see you. Joe Gruters right there. He runs
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the RNC. And I couldn't think of a better guy.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Really terrific American wearing a very nice yellow tie.
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: You can hear Sid and Friends in the Morning weekday
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: mornings at 6. If you like the podcast, share it
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: with your friends and listen anytime at wabcradio.com and download
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: the WABC Radio app. Hit that subscribe button on all
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: major podcast platforms. Plus, follow WABC on social, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook,
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: and X.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: See you next time.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: For a new episode so you never have to wonder.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here?